Obesity a heavy burden in Nova Scotia
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* Donalee Moulton

Nova Scotians are packing on the pounds and it is costing the health care system dearly, an economic-impact study commissioned by Cancer Care Nova Scotia indicates.

Between 1985 and 1997, the rate of obesity in Nova Scotia more than doubled for adults between the ages of 20 and 64. More than 37% of Nova Scotians now meet the medical definition of obesity, a figure 31% higher than the national average.

“To turn around the increase in obesity, we have to recognize that junk food, physical inactivity and rising stress rates are as toxic and costly as tobacco,” said Dr. Ron Colman, lead researcher and director of GPI Atlantic, a nonprofit group developing a new economic index for Nova Scotia. Economically, he says, obesity is taking a toll: it costs the provincial government $120 million a year in direct health care costs, including $24 million for the treatment of hypertension, and $140 million in indirect costs, primarily lost productivity. An estimated 1000 Nova Scotians die each year as a result of obesity.

On average, the provincial government spends only 2% of its budget on disease prevention. Food manufacturers, on the other hand, spend billions advertising.

“In effect,” says Colman, “our children are getting their education about diet from the food industry, and in particular the fast-food industry.”

Recommendations in the report, *Costs of Obesity in Nova Scotia*, include requiring school cafeterias to serve more nutritious foods, putting high-fat warnings on junk food and taxing manufacturers of foods with little nutritional value. —